Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight?  You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon (2 Sam 12:9).

A sad accounting for one of Israel’s greatest leaders.  It was a sad, sad day for David.  He writes later, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Ps 51:2-3).  His sin was always before him, he never forgot.  What David hoped to keep secret was out in the open.  He had given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme (2 Sam 12:14).  His sin affected others.  An innocent child died (2 Sam 12:15-18).  Can you imagine his guilt?  After seven days of fasting and praying, David washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes and went into the house of the LORD and worshiped (2 Sam 12:20).  Sin is powerful.  It can destroy us.  Her house is the way to hell (Prov 7:27).  But God who is rich in mercy (Eph 2:4) and forgiveness can save us from our own destruction.  Repent.  “As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek 33:11).

Keith